Ring MistressesThe Ladies of Hampden run away and join the circus for a happy cause.

By Betsy Boyd, Photographs by Justin Tsucalas

Parasol Dancer: Abby Stone from The Ideal Arts Space “is an instructor, performer and creative director. Her passion for all things movement related is reflected in her pose as a turn-of-the-century parasol dancer,” notes calendar text.

The Ladies of Hampden star in a sizzling pair of calendars all their own this year, and each book is a theatrical spectacle to behold. A spinoff on last year’s “Boys of Hampden”/ “Boys of Hampden Gone Wild” double-calendar project—which featured male business owners from the Hampden area posing in various states of undress, photographed by Justin Tsucalas and benefitting the Hampden Family Center—the 2017 “Ladies” look-books present businesswomen embodying powerful circus and sideshow performer personae.

“I’m the knife thrower,” says Nikki Verdecchia, owner of the NV Salon Collective on 36th Street and stylist for the shoot. “I wanted to incorporate what I do every day in the salon as if I were a sideshow character. [My persona] represents being able to target challenges and face them head-on.”

Verdecchia says that plenty of people in the neighborhood face the same daily life challenges that she and her business colleagues encounter, and that’s why she’s pleased that the project continues to support the Hampden Family Center.

“We love what the Boys of Hampden did last year, and we admire pinup and other types of sensual art forms,” Verdecchia adds. “The Ladies of Hampden considered it important to express our talents and strengths other than solely via our physical attributes. We talked about having a theme that could be split into two calendars with one showing our softer side, the other our edgier side. Shannon Reilly (the Bearded Lady) from Charm City Skin came up with the brilliant idea to do a circus/ sideshow theme!”

Parasol Dancer: Abby Stone from The Ideal Arts Space “is an instructor, performer and creative director. Her passion for all things movement related is reflected in her pose as a turn-of-the-century parasol dancer,” notes calendar text.